A rich and interesting part of the Thousand Worlds campaign is the discovery of bizarre cultures that populate its stars. The setting harbors a vast array of atypical science fiction planets, with stories rich in unsettling themes that most players are simply not used to. When I started my campaign, I parsed out these cultural descriptions piecemeal over several weeks. In hindsight, I think it would have been better to deliver this information faster, clearer, and in a more accessible manner. This is some of the background stuff that puts the players’ minds in the state you, as GM, want them. It gets people in the mood that you are going for, gets them thinking along the same lines that you are, and whets their appetites to jump out and explore your universe.

The planet of Worlorn is in a slowly decaying orbit around its sun. As a result, its winters grow colder every year. It is a dying world with a doomed population.

The Golden Theta did great works upon one of the two lost colony worlds. They created a new Not-Man species capable of living within dark tunnels underground.

The Vendalian Masters seek to cheat death by employing clones and stealing the bodies of outworlders in the Trial of the Mind.

The Grand Library of Avalon houses the greatest collection of records and information from before the Interregnum.

No one goes to Old Earth.

The culture of Arion is extremely devout and worships dragons.

A psychic entity preys on the people of Shkeen, taking their bodies as nutrient in exchange for granting each citizen 10 years of supreme bliss.

The people of Shrakky have a history of suffering cruel experimentation by the hands of the Golden Theta. Their society now believes in the sanctity of genetics and blood-purity, leading to near constant interplanetary war over racism.

The surface of Croan-Dhenni is a mechanized nightmare of automation where organic life is treated as a sickness to be cured.

One of the lost colony worlds was seeded by the Golden Theta with genetically altered Fire Wyrms to combat the deadly Ice Wraiths of the native inhabitants.

Thisrock is a savage, crime-infested hellhole run by thugs.

The twisted Genemancers of Prometheus are feared across the galaxy. Raiders from this planet fly out among the stars in search of fresh genetic material to add to their stocks.

Provinaa was once a densely populated center of learning and scientific achievement. It was devastated by the Golden Theta during the Double War and is now a giant petri dish of the universe’s worst plagues.

Thor is a desert planet whose original purpose in the Earth Empire has long been forgotten. In the wake of the Interregnum, the people here now are concerned only with finding enough water so as not to die of thirst.

The people of Rhiannon struggle to maintain thier civil society in the face of plundering space pirates and raids by power-mad Promethean Geneticists.

The people of Norn live an agrarian life and are obsessed with gladiatorial games.

The Kimdissi are known as liars and thieves. Many families are called Mockmen, possessing the ability to change their facial features at will.

Life on New Pittsburgh is driven by the reanimation of corpses. All manner of perversions may be had here.

The surface of the world of Slagg is 80% melted, irradiated deserts caused by concentrated nuclear bombardment during the Double War.

Baldur was cracked apart in the Double War by a Fyndii superweapon. Now it is a ring of asteroids connected by space bridges thousands of miles long.

The surface of Old Hranga is an ever-broiling sea of conflict among the hundreds of freed Slave Races battling for supremacy. It is said that a cabal of Hragan Minds still live in the tunnels deep underground.

The people of Darkdawn have a deep respect for the arts and their place in society. They have geo-engineered entire mountain ranges to produce somber harmonies from the sound generated by passing winds.

Greywater is a forgotten Double War military outpost in a hellish swamp world battling. The people there live their lives in constant struggle against the hive-minded fungal overlords of the planet.

The warrior culture of High Kavalaan greatly reveres expert craftsmanship in stone, the bonds between men who fight together, and the protection of the clan.

Aath has a pristine landscape and unrivaled source of natural resources.

The hyper-military culture of Bastion revolves around worship of Bakkalon, The Pale Child, and the superiority of the Human Species above all others.

Corlos is a lush planet where a higly spiritual and peaceful sentient species lives in harmony with nature. They build their villages centered on obsidian pyramids for some unknown reason.

The Suthlemese revere the sanctity of life above all else. Their population now numbers in the hundreds of billions. The people of Suthleim live a life rampant with starvation and cannibalism.

Once the greatest military training grounds of the Man-realm, Wellington is now a bombed out shell of its former glory.

Jamison’s World is a lush, oceanic planet. The wealthy elite live on scattered islands and ignore the large, main continent where the planet’s native sentient species resides.

The planet dubbed Bitterblooms was hit hard by the Interregnum and is now a frozen wasteland where ill-equipped Hrangan Slave Races, now freed, try to eke out a living.

Where possible, I like to put together what I call a Campaign Primer before starting a new RPG campaign. The intent here is to give an overview of the style and form the campaign will take from the viewpoint of the players. It’s an advertisement for the campaign (look how awesome this thing is!) and also a warning (watch out, this is how things are going down here and maybe you don’t like that!). It’s more communication, which is almost always a good thing.

Here is what I sent my players, way back in the spring of this year. It’s brief and to the point. It lets players know what fun and exciting things are in store for them (get them excited!), but also lets them know that this is not a pull-your-punches kind of game.

The game setting will be somewhat like a traditional Edge of the Empire campaign, but set instead in the universe of GRRM’s dystopian Thousand Worlds. It is assumed that players have no knowledge of the setting or game mechanics. The players will represent a handful of desperate space-faring travelers trying to save themselves and their own unique alien species from utter extinction in the face of a brutal, intergalactic dark age, known as the Interregnum, as well as terrors from the past. Spaceflight itself will be a rare commodity, which the player characters (crew) will use with their own unique psychic abilities to leverage an unfair universe to their favor.

You will play a mismatched crew of a derelict starship, a leftover from the grand spacefaring days of ten generations past. Things at home have gone from bad to worse, and as a result, you’ve decided to throw what meager resources you have into this cobwebbed shell of a tin can and venture into the grim, alien-infested darkness of The Jambles.

The campaign is expected to have few, if any, Human crew. Player characters will be mostly comprised of what was once alien slave races, freed from the clutches of their hive-minded overlords, the Hrangan, in the aftermath of the Double War and the collapse of galactic civilization. Also, robots. Players can be robots too, that’s cool.

The playstyle sought after will be in many ways modeled after the rogue-like video game FTL. If you are unfamiliar with the genre, please rectify this. Expect an emphasis on charting/mapping hyperspace lanes, evading an unstoppable foe, starting with nothing and then growing an increasingly powerful starship, and sudden horrific death.

WHAT YOU WILL DO:
– Travel from star to star, mapping out the hyperspace lanes of the galaxy
– Uncover lost ruins and forgotten technology
– Salvage derelict battlecruisers orbiting the dead worlds of your forefathers
– Lie, cheat, and steal your way to wealth and power in a medieval/futuristic economy
– Exploit an unfair universe with your own unfair advantages
– Encounter never-before-seen aliens
– Explore the sad ruins of an intergalactic dark age of misery
– Cry sometimes, maybe
– Unlock the mysteries of your own latent psychic powers
– Stop the perpetrators of the universe’s most horrific tragedies – Destroy all humans!

Related to that, I also created a listing of all inhabited worlds in the campaign. The purpose here is two-fold:

1). To have a quick reference for the GM to look up keywords about the planets, as a springboard for sudden improv when the players go shooting out into the galaxy on their own.

2). To whet the players’ appetites even more, make them curious and hungry to explore.

You may notice some influence from P is for Planet. The worlds described here are the most interesting, in my opinion, from the written stories. I’ve stayed pretty faithful to the literary source, but twisted a few things here or there to make a better game overall. As you all should know, I don’t bow to canon, canon bows to me.

When I ran the campaign this summer, I did not include this information to the players right off the bat. They had some, but mostly had to wander around the galaxy on their own and uncover it piece by piece. This was a mistake. Have this enticing campaign fluff out there at Session #1. Make them dream of the fascinating worlds they will find.

ARIONThe culture of Arion is extremely devout and worships dragons.
Principal Geography: Open plainsTechnological Level: RegressedKeywords: Catholic, Dragons, Crosses, Liars, Subjugated, stained glassMoral of the Story: Separation of church and state

AVALONThe Grand Library of Avalon houses the greatest collection of records and information from before the Interregnum.Principal Geography: Low gravityTechnological Level: StarfaringKeywords: starships, Academy, learning, isolationist, elitistMoral of the Story: Focusing knowledge on the elite comes at the cost of suffering of others. Withholding information and technological advances is morally reprehensible.

BALDURBaldur was cracked apart in the Double War by a Fyndii superweapon. Now it is a ring of asteroids connected by space bridges thousands of miles long.Principal Geography: AsteroidsTechnological Level: StarfaringKeywords: starships, mining, NIMBY, planet was destroyed in the Double War and now just inhabited chunks of rockMoral of the Story: Everyone needs to help out their neighbor in times of trouble.

BASTIONThe hyper-military culture of Bastion revolves around worship of Bakkalon, The Pale Child, and the superiority of the Human Species above all others.Principal Geography: MetropolitanTechnological Level: StarfaringKeywords: Steel Angels, overpopulated, subjugated, starships, warmongering, religious zealots, The Pale Child, prophecy, kill children and make an effigyMoral of the Story: All prophecy is false.

CORLOSCorlos is a lush planet where a highly spiritual and peaceful sentient species lives in harmony with nature. They build their villages centered on obsidian pyramids for some unknown reason.Principal Geography: ForestedTechnological Level: RegressedKeywords: pyramids, jungle, psychic community, dream-visions, exploitation of natural resources, upgraded Cool/Discipline checksMoral of the Story: Defeat your enemies through dreams and false prophecy.

CROAN-DHENNIThe surface of Croan-Dhenni is a mechanized nightmare of automation where organic life is treated as a sickness to be cured.Principal Geography: Artificially constructedTechnological Level: StarfaringKeywords: cybernetics, loss of humanity, starships, isolationist, “psychically” linked via wifi/borg implantsMoral of the Story: Eternal life is eternal hell.

DARKDAWNThe people of Darkdawn have a deep respect for the arts and their place in society. They have geo-engineered entire mountain ranges to produce somber harmonies from the sound generated by passing winds.Principal Geography: IrradiatedTechnological Level: RegressedKeywords: Sadness, songs, loss, melancholy, suicide, subjugated, darkwing batsMoral of the Story: Don’t kill yourself.

GREYWATERGreywater is a forgotten Double War military outpost in a hellish swamp world battling. The people there live their lives in constant struggle against the hive-minded fungal overlords of the planet.Principal Geography: WetlandsTechnological Level: StableKeywords: subjugated, mushrooms, hive-minded fungal infection, isolated military base, suspicion, swamps, alpha-gatorsMoral of the Story: You have to place your trust in someone in order to survive.

HIGH KAVALAANThe warrior culture of High Kavalaan greatly reveres expert craftsmanship in stone, the bonds between men who fight together, and the protection of the clan.Principal Geography: Tectonically unstableTechnological Level: RegressedKeywords: clans, subjugated, iron, fire, mining, nuclear fallout, machoism, patriarchy, knives, duels, Beth-Hounds, oaths, honor, jade, glowstone, roiling storms, warging into animalsMoral of the Story: The traditions of the past can be a burden in a developing world.

KIMDISSThe Kimdissi are known as liars and thieves. Many families are called Mockmen, possessing the ability to change their facial features at will.Principal Geography: Jovian / gas giantTechnological Level: RegressedKeywords: shapechangers (mockmen), lies, tricks, mind-controlMoral of the Story: Everyone lies.

NEW PITTSBURGHLife on New Pittsburgh is driven by the reanimation of corpses. All manner of perversions may be had here.Principal Geography: IrradiatedTechnological Level: RegressedKeywords: animated dead, necromancy, necrophilia, rust, wastelands, overpopulatedMoral of the Story: Capitalism unchecked destroys lives.

NEWHOLMEThe largest surviving Old Earth Empire battle fleet stands stationed at Newholme, where the military rules through fear.Principal Geography: Open plainsTechnological Level: StarfaringKeywords: starships, enslaved machines, expansionist, aggressorsMoral of the Story: There’s a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people.

NORNThe people of Norn live an agrarian life and are obsessed with gladiatorial games involving exotic animal species.Principal Geography: MixedTechnological Level: RegressedKeywords: bronze age, feudalism, gladiatorial games, wild animals fight, zoos, cobalcats: psychic panthers, great houses, famineMoral of the Story: Dog-fighting is horrible.Persons of Interest: Herold of House Lyronica, House Arneth

OLD EARTHNo one goes to Old Earth.
Principal Geography: Toxic atmosphereTechnological Level: AdvancedKeywords: overpopulated, extreme isolation, hostility, xenophobia, over industrializationMoral of the Story: No one goes to Old Earth.

OLD HRANGAThe surface of Old Hranga is an ever-broiling sea of conflict among the hundreds of freed Slave Races battling for supremacy. It is said that a cabal of Hraagan Minds still live in the tunnels deep underground.Principal Geography: Hot & aridTechnological Level: RegressedKeywords: dark dark were the tunnels, hiding, hateful, storms, lost tombs, sealed vaults, Mind-stealers, psychicMoral of the Story: The glory days of long lost triumphs are best let go to make room for new growth.

PROMETHEUSThe twisted Genemancers of Prometheus are feared across the galaxy. Raiders from this planet fly out among the stars in search of fresh genetic material to add to their stocks.Principal Geography: VolcanicTechnological Level: StarfaringKeywords: genetics, mad science, crazy mutants, golden theta, silver thetaMoral of the Story: Science gone unchecked is a danger to us all.

PROVINAAProvinaa was once a densely populated center of learning and scientific achievement. It was devastated by the Golden Theta during the Double War and is now a giant petri dish of the universe’s worst plagues.Principal Geography: Toxic atmosphereTechnological Level: RegressedKeywords: plague, giants, pestilence, weapons testing siteMoral of the Story: The cost of war extends to the innocent no matter how much we try to protect them.

RHIANNONThe people of Rhiannon struggle to maintain thier civil society in the face of plundering space pirates and raids by power-mad Promethean Geneticists.Principal Geography: Jovian / gas giantTechnological Level: StableKeywords: desperately fighting off marauders and pirates and slaversMoral of the Story: Watch out for space pirates.

SHKEENA psychic entity preys on the people of Shkeen, taking their bodies as nutrient in exchange for granting each citizen 10 years of supreme bliss.
Principal Geography: MountainousTechnological Level: RegressedKeywords: psychic, happiness, hive-minded, red fungus, spirituality, India, peace, death, decaying animals are nutrient for plantsMoral of the Story: Is perfect happiness worth giving up freedom and the end years of your life?

SHRAKKYThe people of Shrakky have a history of suffering cruel experimentation by the hands of the Golden Theta. Their society now believes in the sanctity of genetics and blood-purity, leading to near constant interplanetary war over racism.
Principal Geography: Tectonically unstableTechnological Level: RegressedKeywords: racist

SUTHLEIMThe Suthlemese revere the sanctity of life above all else. Their population now numbers in the hundreds of billions. The people of Suthleim live a life rampant with starvation and cannibalism.Principal Geography: MetropolitanTechnological Level: AdvancedKeywords: overpopulated, religion, massive cities, weird food sources (nanowheat, slig-meat, oil-pods), hostile, expansionist, proselytizers, missionaries, food shortages, starvation, love of all lifeMoral of the Story: Strict adherence to religious dogma is very dangerous

THISROCKThisrock is a savage, crime-infested hellhole run by thugs.Principal Geography: AsteroidsTechnological Level: RegressedKeywords: crime-ridden, gangs, overrunMoral of the Story: Don’t do drugs, kids.

THORThor is a desert planet whose original purpose in the Earth Empire has long been forgotten. In the wake of the Interregnum, the people here now are concerned only with finding enough water so as not to die of thirst.Principal Geography: Low gravityTechnological Level: StableKeywords: food shortages, cannibalism, starvation, desert, duneMoral of the Story: Do criminals deserve our love and compassion?

TOBER IN THE VEILGenerations ago, a great leader named Tober lead his people away past the Fringe and into the unknown reaches of the Veil to escape the depradations of the Humans.Principal Geography: MixedTechnological Level: StableKeywords: isolationist, limited gene pool, inbreeding, hidden, nebula cloudMoral of the Story: You can’t hide and detach from your problems forever.

VENDALIAThe Vendalian Masters seek to cheat death by employing clones and stealing the bodies of outworlders in the Trial of the Mind.Principal Geography: High gravityTechnological Level: StableKeywords: body-swapping, clones, Trial of the Mind, languid, miasma, melting, obsidianMoral of the Story: The rich steal youth from the young through the pseudo-slavery of wealth/work inequality.

WELLINGTONOnce the greatest military training grounds of the Man-realm, Wellington is now a bombed out shell of its former glory.Principal Geography: High gravityTechnological Level: AdvancedKeywords: military training center, PTSD, marinesMoral of the Story: Integration of military back into civilian life is difficult

WORLORNThe planet of Worlorn is in a slowly decaying orbit around its sun. As a result, its winters grow colder every year. The planet is a dying world with a doomed population.
Principal Geography: MountainousTechnological Level: RegressedKeywords: cold, dying light, iridescent shell-beetles, failing power, lost loveMoral of the Story: Everything dies in the end.

LOST COLONY: HOUSE OF THE WORMThe Golden Theta did great works upon one of the two lost worlds. They created a new Man-Species capable of living within dark tunnels underground.
Principal Geography: Hot & aridTechnological Level: RegressedKeywords: genetics, Groun, four-armed, adaptation, dark tunnels, cannibalismMoral of the Story: Make love, not war. Splinter-races from Humanity must put aside prejudices and come back together. It is totally gross.

The Thousand Worlds is a bizarre science-fiction universe created by the mind of George R.R. Martin in the 70’s and 80’s. Yes,that guy.

What draws me to it are that the stories told describe a broken universe that is very alien to our experiences in the real world on earth. Like most stories set in the future, the themes presented are all parallels for modern problems the world is experiencing right now, in the present. However, the subject matter is often unsettling, creepy, uncomfortable, and most important, hits with an emotional impact like a punch to the gut. This is exactly how I like my RPGs to be.

So, I created, ran, and successfully completed a Thousand Worlds campaign, using Edge of the Empire as a basis for the nuts and bolts ruleset. From the outset, I started the campaign design by sketching out what I wanted to accomplish. I had a burning passion to share my enthusiasm for these stories, which I had just finish reading. And I wanted to have a “rags-to-riches” campaign, one that started the game off with the player characters extremely weak and poor, struggling to survive, but then end with them in an earned position of incredible wealth and power. Above all else, I wanted a campaign that – on an emotional, gut level – gave the players the feeling of wondrous discovery. I wanted to give them the childlike wonder of exploring what’s buried under the rocks, and have that thing be fun, interesting, and memorable. I wanted them to never feel like they had run out of the game, or were in any way limited to where they could go or what they could do. There’s always more out there.

In the next few blog posts, I’m going to be talking about some of the details of my Thousand Worlds campaign – design goals, planning, house rules, a starmap puzzle, creating heists, a design checklist, and reinforcing the theme of wondrous discovery in as many ways as possible. Sit tight, it’s a hell of a ride. It might take me some time, be patient.

If you’d like to dig in more into The Thousand Worlds, and I heartily recommend it, go check out this overview video. There’s links to the stories themselves in the video description, many of which have audiobooks or free recorded readings available. There are a lot of stories, but (aside from Dying of the Light) they are all short stories and novellas, making them very quick reads. My favorites are probably In the House of the Worm, A Song for Lya, and The Stone City; though it’s very hard to choose, many of them are really, really good.

DESCRIPTION

You enter a new star system and long range sensors detect a single vessel of Silhouette 1 at the far end of the system.

Do you move in to investigate?

INVESTIGATE

You find an imperial probe droid floating near an interstellar beacon. Despite its pristine condition, it appears to be deactivated. Probes of this type are known to collect vast amounts of data that are both encrypted and guarded by built-in security measures.

ENCOUNTER

A Crew bringing in the deactivated probe on board their starship may attempt to slice into its protected databanks to retrieve valuable information. Doing so is an upgradedDauntingComputers (dddcbb) check, with a Setback die added due to encryption protocols on the data and an additional Setback die added due to the probes built-in security measures.

A successful check unlocks a single, powerful piece of information at random; chosen from the table below. Advantage increases the overall benefit of the information in some way, and each Triumph adds an additional, random piece of information that is combined with the original, changing both. If Threat is revealed, the probe is accidentally activated. Its weapons and shields go online; prepare for a fight! On a result showing Despair, Imperial authorities have been alerted to this infraction through emergency hyperspace signals and will pursue the Crew, adding 5 Obligation (criminal).

Random Valuable Data Table

Roll (d10)

Data Recovered

1

Inside information that can be used to pull off an extremely profitable venture, such as a bank heist.

2

The location of a hidden Jedi.

3

The location of a hidden Rebel Alliance base or starship.

4

Security access codes to a military installation or starship.

5

Evidence that incriminates a Nemesis in a crime.

6

Evidence that exonerates the Crew or an ally from a crime.

7

Evidence of an embarrassing scandal perpetrated by a wealthy and powerful individual, such as an Imperial Moff.

8

Information that can be used to promote one of the Crew’s Motivations.

DESCRIPTION

You enter a new star system and long range sensors detect a single vessel of Silhouette 4 at the far end of the system.

Do you move in to investigate?

INVESTIGATE

You cross paths with a starship of unusual design that looks to have had dozens of layers of armor-plating added over its battered hull. As the starship approaches to within sensor range, you are able to identify the vessel as a defunct Mandalorian design, previously thought long-lost. The comm systems crackle to life with an insectoid voice clicking away in the native Gand language;

A wave of terror washes over the thoughts of the Crew as you recognize the name of this ruthless marauder. KazaaakplethKilik is a paranoid, xenophobic murderer and obsessive hoarder. She has collected a lifetimes worth of stolen wealth goods and hidden it in a remote outer rim location. She has a reputation for cruelty and deadliness, and as such each member of the Crew must immediately make an upgradedAverage (dc) Fearcheck.

KazaaakplethKilik despises all non-Gand lifeforms and adds two Setback dice (bb) to all Social skill checks made by species other than her own used to influence her. If she is not otherwise dissuaded, KazaaakplethKilik’s primary motivation is to steal all of the Crew’s possessions, including their starship.

ENCOUNTER

If the enemy ship is destroyed, the tattered scraps from the empty husk of the ship can be collected and sold, taking 50 Encumbrance and having a base value of 2,000 credits.

If KazaaakplethKilik’s ship is either disabled or boarded, she immediately signals her surrender and offers to reveal the location of one of her secret vaults in exchange for her life. One Crew member makes an opposed Charm, Coerce, or Deceit check as appropriate against KazaaakplethKilik as she tells the coordinates for nearby stashes of stolen goods, with two Setback (bb) added if the Crew member is not a Gand (see Results below).

The locations of the hidden valuables are known only to KazaaakplethKilik and are not directly recorded in any fashion. However, a boarding party may easily download the enemy starship’s databanks in an attempt to triangulate the locations of recently visited treasure caches with an upgraded Daunting (dddc) Astrogationcheck (see Results below), with additional Setback dice added as appropriately for external factors such as starship damage.

RESULTS

Each Success:The Crew uncover the coordinates and access codes for one hidden stash of treasures, located at a random star system in the galaxy. Each hidden stash contains one random starship component (roll 2d10; see Random Starship Component Table below), as well as a wealth of credits as determined by the number of Advantage generated, if any.

Each Advantage: Every secret stash found also has stored within a cache of an additional 1,000 credits.

Each Triumph: One hidden vault has an intact starfighter housed within (roll 1d10; see Random Starfighter Table below). Alternatively, Galaxy Masters are encouraged to provide exotic, new, and experimental star fighters in lieu of those listed.

DESCRIPTION

You enter a new star system and long range sensors detect a single vessel of Silhouette 4 at the far end of the system.

Do you move in to investigate?

INVESTIGATE

The edge of this star system is packed with a dense asteroid field, adding three Setback dice (bbb) to all Pilot (space) and Astrogationchecks while in this region. Deftly avoiding the hurtling debris, you discover the remains of a starship embedded into an asteroid. The uncaring hand of fate then determines what surprises are in store by having the Galaxy Master roll a Force Die and adjudicating the Encounter based on the descriptions below.

Ο

Close scans reveal the engines and missile bay of the wrecked starship to be mostly undamaged. One member of the Crew may salvage the fuel and missiles of the starship with an Average (dd) Mechanics check. After an hour of work, you recover a concussion missile for each two Successes generated and 10 credits in profitable fuel for each Advantage generated. With a Triumph, the missile tubes can be recovered and reconfigured onto your starship, provided it has enough unused Hard Points.

ΟΟ

In addition to the effects described under Ο, you happen upon an abandoned mining site. A single mining droid has been left behind and could be re-purposed for your use. One member of the Crew may program the droid with a successful Average (dd) Computerscheck. After an hour of work, the droid finally breaks down, but not before harvesting a number of crates of valuable rare earth mineral ores equal to the number of Successes generated. Each crate of ore occupies 5 Encumbrance and has a base worth of 100 credits. With a Triumph, the mining droid can be recovered. The droid itself occupies 10 Encumbrance and has a base value of 1,000 credits.

•

Close scans reveal the starship to be a worthless wreck. While making these scans, you find the asteroid field to be more dangerous than expected and you must react quickly to avoid impact with the rocky debris. Your starship’s pilot must immediately make a Hard Pilot (space) check (ddd), upgraded once (c), and including three Setback (bbb) to account for the dense asteroid field (ddcbbb).
For each Despair, your starship suffers one Vehicle Critical Hit.
For each Failure, your starship suffers 1 Hull Trauma.
For each Threat, your starship suffers 1 System Strain.

••

In addition to the effects described under •, a trio of space pirates flying Z-95 Headhunters is hiding behind one of the larger asteroids. In the blink of an eye, they fire up their engines and move in to attack you! Begin the combat with the Z-95 Headhunters at a Range Band equal to your starshsip’s Sensor Range and all starships at Speed 0. Roll a Cool check for the space pirates and a Vigilance check for the Crew to determine initiative.

DESCRIPTION

You enter a new star system and long range sensors detect a single vessel of Silhouette 5 at the far end of the system.

Do you move in to investigate?

INVESTIGATE

You find a disabled transport ship, unpowered, floating in a sector of space jam packed full of debris. Blasted hulks, wrecked starfighters, and twisted metal fill the area; as well as a communications beacon. The device transmits a warning to all who come near, cautioning that this derelict vessel is protected by Imperial patrols and should not be approached. The transport has scorch marks along its hull and large sections of its superstructure exposed to the vacuum of space. However, sensors indicate that many key components of the starship are intact, making this a prime candidate for a lucrative, but risky, salvage operation.

Salvage operations are directed by a single member of the Crew, who makes either a Perception, Mechanics, or Knowledge (education) check on the entire Crew’s behalf in an attempt to strip as much valuable material as possible before the inevitable arrival of the authorities. The difficulty to salvage the transport is an Average (dd) check. However, the lingering threat of an impending Imperial patrol adds stress and pressure to the situation, upgrading the check (c) once. Additionally, the wreckage-strewn starship junkyard the transport is in adds two Setback dice (bb) to the Salvage Check as well as any Pilot checks made in the area, for a total Salvage (dcbb) check.

SALVAGE CHECK

Each Success:The Crew salvages a bushel of viable scrap parts (10 Encumbrance). A bushel of scrap parts can be sold for 500 credits.

Each Advantage:The Imperial patrol starts the Encounter up to one Range Band further away and up to two Speed categories slower.Each Threat: The Imperial patrol starts the Encounter up to one Range Band closer and up to two Speed categories faster.

Each Triumph:It’s a trap!
But not meant for you. A small starfighter piloted by a member of an anarchist group seeking to topple the peace and stability of the Galactic Empire emerges from hyperspace and distracts the Imperial patrol, granting your Crew a full round of actions before the three Blastboats turn their attention on your freighter.

Each Despair: It’s a trap!
The disabled transport explodes in a fiery flash, shock waves ripping through your own starship and it immediately suffers a Vehicle Critical Hit.

ENCOUNTER

An Imperial patrol jumps into the system nearby while you are salvaging the ship and you intercept their comm chatter,

“…appears we’ve found some trouble. Moving to intercept.”

A wing of three GAT-12H Skipray Blastboats emerges from hyperspace at Medium Range from the Crew’s starship and at Speed 2; modified by the results of the Salvage Check.

Before you can plead your innocence they move in to attack. The Blastboats carry with them the might and terror of the Galactic Imperial Navy, and as such all Crew must immediately make an Average (dd) Fearcheck upon their arrival. The trio of Blastboats and the Crew then roll Vigilance to determine initiative.

Three Blastboats are an overwhelming force for a Crew of smugglers, as will become evident upon the first volley of missiles. To escape the system, the Crew must succeed on five consecutive Astrogation checks and then the pilot can make the jump into hyperspace. Since the Crew are under attack, the Astrogation checks will be Average (dd) Difficulty, with additional Difficulty Dice added as their vessel becomes damaged. The dense field of wreckage surrounding the transport adds two Setback Dice (bb) to all Pilot and Astrogation checks.